1959 Touch Of Hell, AKA Serious Charge, Lobby Card with Anthony Quayle, Sarah Churchill, Andrew Ray
Released two years before Victim, following a slight relaxation in censorship rules, Serious Charge was the first British feature with an (obliquely)
homosexual theme. Falsely accused of molesting a local delinquent, Anthony Quayle’s coded-as-queer vicar faces a barrage of homophobic abuse. Aping
the US cycle of tearaway teen movies, it also boasts Judith Furse as a butch probation officer and Cliff Richard in his big-screen debut.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_Charge#:~:text=Serious%20Charge%20(also%20known%20in,play%20written%20by%20Philip%20King.
Serious Charge (also known in US release as A Touch of Hell) is a 1959 British film, directed by Terence Young, produced and co-written by Mickey Delamar
(with Guy Elmes). It was adapted from a stage play written by Philip King. The film is notable for the screen acting debut of pop singer Cliff Richard in a
minor supporting role.
An unmarried vicar, the Reverend Howard Phillips (Anthony Quayle), newly arrived in the parish, attempts to get local 19-year-old thug and petty criminal
Larry Thompson (Andrew Ray) to face up to his responsibilities to Mary Williams (Leigh Madison), the naive young girl he has made pregnant. When
Howard threatens to tell his coffee-bar friends, Larry trashes the room and fakes a struggle. As a dishevelled Larry leaves, Hester Peters (Sarah Churchill)
arrives, and he tells her that Howard "interfered" with him. Hester is the daughter of the parish’s previous clergyman and has become infatuated with the
athletic and handsome new vicar. However, having earlier seen a young girl leaving the vicarage late one night (Mary, who had sought the vicar's advice
about her pregnancy), Hester jumps to the conclusion the two are romantically linked and, "a fury like a woman scorn'd",
[1]
chooses to believe Larry's
account. Shortly afterwards, Mary chances across Larry kissing another girl, and in distress blindly stumbles across the road into the path of a car, and is
killed.
As a consequence of the malicious accusation, Howard is subjected to suspicion and abuse by his parishioners, including having his car's tyres slashed and
receiving poison pen letters. When his mother (Irene Browne) learns of events, knowing about Hester's romantic interest in Howard, she quickly
comprehends the situation, takes Hester to task, and persuades her to accept Howard's account. Larry duly receives his come-uppance at the hands of his
father.